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He was becoming a pest to the medical staff. Or perhaps he had passed pest, and became a fixture. As soon as he had been allowed, Mau was at Nyx's bedside, and refused to leave. It was only when the staff shooed him out to change Nyx's dressings that he wasn't beside her. He had taken a share of work with him, and attempted to sift through some papers. But the pretense of working lasted less then a day.

He hadn't been sleeping much. He may have drifted for an hour or 2 now and again, but when he did, he saw the raid. Nyx, Aila, Aulus, Kunai. He'd wake up again, and the worried, weary dance would start again.

This was one of those rare times he managed to catch a little sleep. He had slipped from the chair beside Nyx's bed and was vaguely kneeling on the floor. His arms were next to Nyx's hands, cradling his head as he caught a few minutes of restless sleep.

He heard his name. Somewhere in the back of this sleep devoid of dreams. It was Nyx's voice. But in his restless state, he tried to tell himself that he was dreaming. Nyx wasn't awake. But if that were so, what was touching his arm? One of the doctors come to shoo him out again, likely. He slowly lifted his head. His back ached from sleeping in this position, and his legs had fallen asleep from the knees down. The room was dimly lit. It was late, and no one was there. He glanced around before seeing Nyx's hand was the one that had touched him. He stared for a moment before shifting his arms and gently taking her hand in his.

What should he say? There were so many things that welled up in an instant that threatened to come pouring out in an incoherent string of babbling relief. "...Well, if it isn't sleeping beauty." Was what came out instead. His fingers gently tightened around Nyx's smaller hand. She was... was she really awake?

What happened? What didn't happen was a better question. He had to think. There were a lot of events that Mau wasn't sure Nyx was ready to hear. "...Tethys shot you." He said. He'd learned who that woman was, and knowing that was Tethys just made him hate her even more. His thumb gently ran over the back of her hand. "We destroyed the machine though." Well, the legendaries had destroyed it. But Hayes had set them free, so it was like they had destroyed it by association or something. "...The hedgehog exploded." He said with a heavy note.

"I'll help." He said softly. No point in telling the drugged up woman she was in no shape to do that. She probably didn't even know what she just said anyways. He moved one hand from hers and gently touched her face, keeping his other hand tangled with hers. "I told you they were just flesh wounds." He replied. "A couple bruises on top of that, but I'm fine." He leaned closer to her, still marveling at the fact she was awake. She was talking too. "How are you feeling?" Was she in pain? Did he need to get the doctor? Her monitors all showed encouraging signs.

"Oxymorphone." He said, glancing at her chart. It was good that she could still tease him. "At least I know never to get a tattoo with a nail gun." He rubbed her cheek gently. He hesitated, wondering if he should fill her in on more details. Do it now when she was pretty much flying high. Or would that stress her out?

"I'm tired." He replied, shifting slightly. His knees were starting to hurt kneeling like this. He managed to drag the chair over with a tingling foot and sat in it. That was better-ish. "A lot of our team was injured pretty severely." He glanced away. "Aila fatally so." He looked back at Nyx. "I thought you were going to die before we got back to base." His fingers trembled against her cheek for a moment. "But you're alright." Or will be when you recover...

When Nyx winced, Mau jumped. "Don't do that, you'll hurt yourself more." He chided gently before relaxing again. "You're tough. You'll live through anything, right?" She had come so close to dying though. So close. "If you're ever in this condition again, I'm going to be very mad at you, and won't make you dinner ever again. You hear?"

Oh god, was that like sending her to bed with out dinner? Though it was worn, and faint, a smile spread across Mau's lips.

Cake? He had no idea what she was talking about. But with the drugs, and her state, what did it really matter? He shook his head slightly. "A week. Maybe more. I've sort of lost track of the days." Sheepishly, he added "I haven't really slept since you got out of surgery."